Shiver and Sigh, but Never Die
by paleMistress
Summary: The title's messed up. A single-parter. Helga's love is tested. Is she willing to die for Arnold? Ummm...I was tired when I wrote this. It has a Happy Ending, cross my heart! R&R PLLLLEEEASE!!


  
Okay, Okay, I'll say it for you... I'm a seriously bad person to have 2 chapter fic's in the process and   
now to be writing another one. What can I say? I have an attention span of three seconds. This just  
came to me...it's a little stupid, but hopefully it's not crap.  
Disclaimer- :::whines::: I wanna own Hey Arnold! I mean I really, really wanna own Hey Arnold...  
DADDIE! BUY ME HEY ARNOLD!!!  
  
~*~Shiver and Sigh, But Never Die.~*~  
  
  
It was such a normal day, there was a threat of boredom. The smell of Autumn teased the air and the  
crisp breeze mixed with the warm Sun threatened to lull me into a mid-noon sleep. But I couldn't   
sleep, I'm at school. So I just settle for a large yawn. I'm telling Phobe something, she's jotting it on  
that clip-board of hers. The whole class is involved in a game. Everything is just so unbelieveibly...same.  
"MOVE IT OR LOSE IT, FOOTBALLHEAD, WE'RE BURNING DAYLIGHT OVER HERE!"  
is what I shriek at my one true love in contempt. Why? Because I'm Helga. Helga G. Pataki to you.  
I hate everything. I don't like anyone. And I'm known to all my classmates as the meanest person in fourth  
grade. I only have one friend, who I treat like nothing, and my Darling Arnold, the boy I've loved ever since  
I can remember, loathes me, which is probably due to the fact that I torment him so this deep, dark passion  
of mine won't be discoved. My parent's value my sisters Trophies over my own life, and lately, I've been  
crying myself to sleep, my spirit broken from my God knows how many years of desolate lonliness.  
But enough about me.   
What you really want to hear about is Arnold, right? How his life is so wonderful? Or maybe you'd prefer  
a story about one of his many selfless quest's to 'Do The Right Thing'? Of course you would. After all, why  
would you want to hear about me? I'm nothing, useless by definition. Just another way to take up space  
on this already hoplessly crowded world of ours. I know what you're thinking. This is a little deep for a   
Fourth Grader. Well, what can I say? I'm different. And I mean very different. I mean, let's consider for a second...  
How many people do you know that build SHRINES of the one's they love and use it as an Idol? Exactly.  
Wait, I've gone off track. Where was I?  
"HELGA! THROW THE BALL WILL YA?!" Shouts a throaty voice. Gerald. If Pheeb's didn't like him, I'd  
pound him into the pavement. Well, no I wouldn't. But it sounds like something I'd say, doesn't it? I pick up the ball.  
"YEAH YEAH, HAIR BOY, KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON!" that's me. My voice. I don't like the sound of it  
anymore. When I was younger, I remember that screaming something as loud as I could, so that all could hear me,   
held some kind of appeal. Now it just grates on my nerves. I throw the ball and walk away from...what was I  
playing again? Oh well, it doesn't matter now. No one calls after me, that's because they don't want me back.  
I'm like this bleek, omonious force that everyone dreads. You wanna clear a room? Just say my name.  
"Helga?" I here a little voice behind me. Phoebe, and she's still got the clip-board.  
"I was wondering if I could stay with the rest of the class and watch Ger...I mean, the Game." she says, blushing.  
"Go ahead, I'm not the boss of you." I just make myself out to be. She smiles and dashes away. I smile back when  
she's out of sight. Poor Phoebe, having to be subjected to me, day after day. I wonder how she does it.  
I look back to the blacktop. Arnold's stopped playing, too, and is over talking to...well, who else? Lila. Lila   
never plays any sports. She's just window dressing. Something to look pretty. She'd probably go berserk if her  
dress got wrinkled. She was laughing flirtatiously, Arnold was giving that cute half smile of his. I wish I were dead...  
Woah, that's different.  
I just felt something. Sort of like a *pang* in the pit of my stomach. Something's going to happen. Something...big.  
The feeling gets stronger. My palms are sweating. What's wrong with me? I can feel my heart beating wildly in my  
throat. I hate this feeling. I want it to stop. NOW. My bodies shaking. Oh God...make it go away...  
What's that sound? Focus, Helga, listen to the sound. Mumbling. Drunk mumbling, I know it from Mirium.  
I look around the yard. The sound's not really close to me, it's closer to...  
Arnold?  
I only have to look at him for a second. He's in one of the corners of the school, and a man suddenly appears right   
there. His long, dirty hair is tangled and oily. His clothes are yellow and gray from not being wahed. His eyes are  
hallow and gausey, his beard is shaggy and unclean. But those are nothing. I look down at his hand...  
A gun.  
My world shattered, and I can't feel my body. I can vaguly hear people screaming and running over to the oppisite  
end of the yard. Not me, I'm in the middle of the yard, staring. Staring.  
Gun. Man. Arnold.  
Arnold.  
Where's Arnold?   
"It's just gotta be a life. Any life, just a life. All I need. Just a Life." the man yells. Arnold's frozen to where he is. Why?  
"Look, Mister, You'd better give me that gun..." NO! ARNOLD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! I can't hear the rest  
of what he says, they're too far away. But I can see the man slowly hold the gun to Arnold's head.  
"I gotta have a life...then I take my own. Any life. You'll have to do. Sorry. Sorry." he rambles, slurring. I'm on the   
ground. I've collapsed. I don't know how long I've been like this. But I have to get up. Arnold's going to die.  
NO! NO, Please no! I'll do anything! ANYTHING! I'LL EVEN---  
Yes.  
I get myself up, the man's ready to pull the trigger. Breath. Arnold's pleading helplessly. Breath. It's time. Exhale.  
"WAIT!" I shout from where I am. The man looks at me wildly. I start walking, shakily.  
"Stay away, girl!" he shouts. I hold my hands up, in a vain attempt to prove I mean no harm.  
"Just listen, ok?" I'm still walking, I'm halfway there.  
"NO!" shouts the man, "Need a life...any life." he's obviously insane.  
"I know, I know." I say softly, I'm standing right next to Arnold now. I can see the wet around his eyes. Tears.   
"Would you be willing to trade?" Arnold looks over at me, unable to speak. The man looks sickly intriuged,  
"Trade?" he says, I nod. Suddenly, he grabs us both by the arms and started draging us towards to people in  
the opposite corner. I shudder, the hand he's holding onto me with is the one that also holds the gun.  
The student and teachers coware together as he gets closer. He pushes us into the herd of people, and holds   
the gun like a baby,  
"Any of you move, and you die too. More lives don't matter." he laughs evily. His eyes fall back on me.  
"Trade?" he belches again. I nod again,  
"You said all you need is a life, right? Any life." he grunts a positive responce.  
Inhale, "Then take mine instead." Exhale. I licked my lips. Dry as sandpaper. The whole school gasps in unison.  
Arnold only gapes at me, to afraid to speak. The man grinned with Animal delight,  
"Why you, not him?" he retorts sluggishly. I clenched my fists, digging my fingernails into the meat of my palm.  
I knew how to answer that, and I knew I had to.  
"Because...He's more deserving of life then I ever could be." there, that was simple.  
"Why?" the man asks with drunken sarcasm. I looked this shadow of a human being in the eye. What I saw was...  
Pain. Like me.  
He was so hurt. We could've been kindred Spirits. Poor man, I know what it must be like for you. Then... that  
mean's I know why you'll want Arnold to live.  
"Because," I say, "He can Help." the man looks at me quizzicly, but I know he understands.  
"Help?" he says, somewhat more soberly.  
"We're the same, you and I." I tell him. He looks at my eyes and nods. He see's it in me, too. The unbearable hurt,  
"We're both alone, we're both desparate. We both have no point in living." I continue. Everyone's staring at me, and  
I can here Arnold whispering, "Helga...no...no..." I don't care, though, I point to Arnold,  
"He has a purpose." I say to the man, "He can help humanity. He'll change the world some day. He'll make life better.  
Us? We'll just die." the man sighs in approval to this.  
"The world will be better if you kill me and not him." I say bluntly, truthfully. There are mummurs in the crowd. I  
steal I quick glance at Arnold. Why is he crying again?  
"No!" Arnold shouts. The man glares unfocused at my blonde angel. He suddenly turns that into a look of defeat.  
"I can't change it." says the man, almost begging Arnold to forgive him.  
"So you know who to chose." I say, stating the obvious.  
"No." he replies, and holds the gun up, barrel wavering from me to Arnold. Arnold to me. I can't take it. I stand in  
front of Arnold, Protecting him with my body.   
"Please." I whisper to the man. He nods. I feel the cold metal circle press against my forehead. But I am complete.  
I have repented.  
I just realized that. I'm making up for everything I've done. Every shove. Every harsh word. Every moment of time   
I've wasted of his life. I am repenting it all. I just hope that Arnold will forgive me. I shut my eyes tightly, cringing.  
I bite down on my toungue until I taste the metal pinch of blood in my mouth. I can feel the triger being gripped at.  
It's being pulled by the man, this is my last breath. I suddenly see the three-year-old me again. Four-year-old.  
Five-year-old, and so on. My life is flashing. It's actually quite pretty. If only there weren't this awful bleat of Death.  
Everyone, I love you.  
Phoebe, I love you.  
Arnold, I love you.  
Forgive me...  
I tighten my jaw and wait for the darkness.  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
Helga...no. Please...NO! I can't move. Please God, I need to move! I need to help Helga. She can't die. She CAN'T.  
The man shuts his eyes and gropes at the trigger, making an attempt to keep his hand steady.  
"Don't..." I whisper. I feel the world getting dizzy around me. It blurs and spins. Helga can't die, I--  
"FREEZE!" shouts an authoritative voice. I hear the sound of metal hitting concrete. There's a struggle. Everyone's  
silient. There must have been teacher's inside the school who saw what was going on. Somebody called the police.  
I can see from one side of Helga's thin body, the man's puting up a weak struggle with one of the cops. They drag  
him away, and he's yelling gibberish. Four other cops stay. They're shouting something, but I block them out.  
"Helga?" I say finally. No one's speaking. Our whole school is absolutly silent. And Helga's not moving. She  
just stay's like she is. Body scrunched up and waiting for an impact.  
"Helga?" I say, a little louder. Is she breathing? Phoebe steps out of the crowd, and I look at her in dismay. Is  
Helga going to snap out of this? Phoebe bites her lip and looks shyly to my...savior?  
"Helga, are you alright?" she says, voice tembling. That's when it happened. She just...fell on the ground. It was   
almost like the very thing that had held her up all these years just...left her, leaving behind this Helga. Like   
cutting the strings of a puppet. She lay there, spralwed out on the ground, and began to...cry?  
No, not cry. Sob.   
Phoebe flew to the ground, and so did I. I finally had use of my limbs once more. I felt words coming that I   
couldn't stop as I held both her hands tightly,  
"Why did you do that Helga?! Where did you get the idea?! Why couldn't you have just run?! You didn't need to  
be brave! God, Helga, are you OK?!" This all came out as one mumbled word. Phoebe was barageing her  
with question of her own, too, and everyone had crowded around and started talking at once. Mr. Simmons  
finally cut in, waving his hand orderly, shocked beyond belief,  
"Everyone, please get back!" he demands. All except Phoebe and I obeyed. Simmons kneeled next to Helga,  
"Helga, can you..." his voice broke in panic, "...can you get up?" Helga lifted her head. Tears still streaked her face.  
"Y--y..." she strugled to speak, hiccuping a few times,   
"Yes." she says. Getting up cautiously, then sliping back down,   
"Let me help, Miss." says one of the officer's close by, walking over and picking her up gently.  
"Th-thank you." she said. Why were her teeth chattering? The officers looked to Phoebe and I,  
"If you two kids would lead me to the sick room, It'd be apprieciated." he says to us. We lead him to the Nurse's   
room. He put Helga down on the small bed and smiled at her,  
"I'll be back to see you again, Miss Helga. And in case you're wondering, the name's Stan... And let me just say,  
the Heroes seem to be getting younger by the minute." He winked at Helga and exited. She smiled slightly before  
shivering violently, grabbing her arms to her stomach in an attempt to get warm,  
"What's wrong, Helga?" Phoebe and I say in unison,  
"Ka-k-Cold..." she shivers and Phoebe nods knowingly,  
"It's probably just a bit of minor shock." she tells us, "It'll pass soon."  
"H-h-h-hope so." her teeth chatter. I take off my sweater and give it to her,  
"Na-na-no. Ssss'ok." she says. I shake my head stuborrnly,  
"Take it." I insist. And she does. We stand there, silent. Just looking at eachother. Speech flew between us at the speed of thought. Speech that only we could hear, but was undistinguishable.  
"I'm going to leave you two..." Phoebe says, walking towards the door,  
"Fa-fa-Pheebs...n-n-no." Helga says, eyes rushing to meet Phobe's franticly.  
Phoebe shook her head and smiled thinnly, like she was sharing a joke. Then, walking out of the room, closed the door gently behind her. We were still staring at eachother. Her electric blue eyes sparkled, and a giggle escaped her lips,  
"Helga, this isn't funny!" I say, trying to sound stern.  
"Ja-ja-just the wa-wa-way you're l-l-looking at m-me." she stutters. I look her over. My sweater's big on her, and doesn't seem to be doing much to keep her warm. Her lips are pale and her jaw is quivering. I kneel down and take her hands in mine. I rub them together with mine in attempt to give her some heat. She looks at me, awestruck and astounded.  
"You, um... look cold." I explain. She nods mutely. Her skin's soft. Almost like porciline, and just as pale. I continue to rub our hands together...and, for some reason, it wasn't just because I wanted her to be warm. I look up a her,  
"Are you going to tell me why?" I ask her,  
"W-w-w-why?" she retorts,  
"Why you saved my life. Why you didn't run like everyone else near me. Why you were going to..." tears welled up in my eyes. The thought of Helga being...I don't even want to think about it.  
"I c-can't." she tells me. I look at her, unbielievebly. That just wasn't good enough,  
"Helga, I need to know! Please!" I shouted.   
She looked at me in wonder and her lips curled upwards. The next thing I know, my lips are on somthing warm and soft. My eyes are shut and my body jolts from the energy that shocks through it. A faint smell that I couldn't get enough of swilred around me.It was like sinking into paradise, like losing yourself in one, glorious moment. I'm kissing her. I'm kissing Helga, and it's the most wonderful feeling in my life. Or maybe she's kissing me? I don't care. I want more of this...much more...  
She pulls away violently, blushing wildly and flustered.   
"Arnold, I...I...I've been..."  
"Helga..." I whispered, afraid that a louder sound would shatter this moment...because I'm not sure if this is a dream or not.  
she shakes her head, "I didn't mean to do that." she says.   
I grin, "You're not shivering anymore." I observed.  
She sighs and looks at me, "You expect me to be cold after the most amazing...um...I mean.." she cuts herself short and her cheeks tint to hot pink. I know I'm blushing, too.  
"What was that for?" I question, still grinning like an idiot. I try and force the expression off my face, but it only persists.  
Somehow my eyes have managed to bring every image out of focus at this moment...except for her.  
"I've been wanting to do that since our date." she says, not really talking to me,but....Our Date?!  
"Our--"  
"Valentines Day." she inturupted before I could finish. Valentines Day? No, that can't be right, I wasn't with her on Valintines Day. I was with...Cecile. Cecile, that beautiful girl who, for some reason, felt she had to hide her identity from me. I watch Helga in misunderstanding. She sighs again, patiently, and slowly undoes her pigtails, taking out her bow as well. When here hair is down, it falls in glossy golden waves, with one stray lock...that falls over her eye.  
"'Allo, Arnuld. You remembare me, non?" she spoke in a fake french accent. My eyes pop in disbelief,  
"Ce...Cecile?!"  
"Oui." she smiles gently and laughs a little. Then shakes her head again,  
"I also hope you liked the Christmas Present I got you." she says, eyes twinkling.  
"Christmas--?"  
"The Snow-Boots? Did Mr. Hyunn Like meeting his daughter?" she cut in again. My jaw dropped in in utter bewilderment.  
"You..." I started. She nodded, confirming everything.  
"So that's why you...in the school play..." I stammer, purposly avoiding the word 'kiss'. She covers her mouth, hiding  
her smile. But I like her smile. I take her hand and guide it back down to her lap. She bites her bottom lip nervously,  
"There's more...a lot more, I'll tell you it all someday, I promise." She vows, "But I need to ask you for a few things."  
"What? Anything." I answer without thinking. She breaths in deeply,  
"Well, the first thing would be that red shoe you kept...and I do want my Pink Book back, if you still have it."  
My smile grew wider, "I should've known." I whispered, "The *PINK* book." The first three letters of that poem; H.E.L.  
God, I was pretty--"  
"Dense?" Helga supplied innocently, trying to calm a fit of giggles. She couldn't, though, and her musical laugh soon sang through the room. I grinned smuggly. Maybe I should be more surprised with this revelation. Helga Like-me likes-me.   
Maybe I should be shocked, or maybe I should've even fainted.  
But I didn't.  
I know it doesn't make sence, but, somehow, this feels...right. Like something just clicked into place. As if some  
higher power finally decided to push us together. And I thank whatever it was that did that. I turn my attention  
back to Helga, who was still trying to stop her laughter. I smile. Whatever just happened, barly a few moments  
ago, it was almost forgotten. Pushed to the back of our minds, to make room for now. I'll never lose  
her, I'll never let her go. I remeber the things she said about herself in the heat of that moment, but decide to leave  
those memories alone, too. She'll talk to me when she's ready. And she WILL talk to me. She has me now,  
and I'll never leave her side. I quirk my eyebrow jokingly,  
"Funny." I say with false-annoyence.  
"You bet." she retorts, and before she has time to react to me, I kiss her again. I wish I could say how it felt this  
time, but I can't think of any words that have been invented to describe the state of hapiness and pure extacy  
I was in. When we parted, I looked into her eyes shyly,  
"Helga, I...I." She placed her finger on my lips and smiled.  
"I love you too, Arnold."  
She kissed me again, and I knew it was the begining of Forever.  
  
~*~The End~*~  
WOW!!! I FINISHED THIS STORY! DO YOU HAVE ANY CLUE HOW HAPPY I AM!!?? Whoa, this is great!  
Now, :::Ahem::: If you'll excuse me, I have to go do my Homework, or else risk failing Civics and Science.  
Ps.- For all those who are wondering. Yes, chapter five of Understanding Helga will be coming soon.  
Till soon, wishin' u,  
Luv  
Life  
Luck  
n' Lafta'  
~*~CD~*~  
  
  
  
  



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